Heretics and Headliners: The Women Who Rewired Rock

From the architects to the agitators shaping the genre now

By: The Lace Ledger Staff

Right now feels different.

Not quieter, not softer, not diluted; but, volcanic and disruptive.

Women are not entering rock again. They are reclaiming it, backed by decades of women who screamed into rooms that were never built to hold them.

Women have been consistently ranked among the most influential rock musicians of all time, with Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks, Patti Smith and Joan Jett shaping entire movements rather than moments.

Today, that lineage is no longer symbolic. It is audible in festival lineups, metal charts, touring rosters and a new generation of artists whose rage is articulate, intentional and unapologetically feminine.

This is not a revival. It is an expansion.